More than a billion people in India were left smitten after the Men in Blue steam-rolled the rest of the world one after the other to eventually lift the World Cup on the 2nd of April at Wankhede. Every cricket fan in India knew that it would take quite a while for the feeling to sink in. But in less than a week - on the 8th of April - the Indian Premier League knocked at our doors promising us more breath-taking and riveting cricketing action.

For starters, we were worried whether an average cricket fan would reach a saturation state where in a Dhoni's helicopter shot would no more excite him; or perhaps a Sachin's match winning fifty for the Mumbai Indians may turn out to be just another humdrum task. We are glad that we were proved wrong. Though most of the players weren't playing for the same franchise anymore (thanks to the auctions), the magic of club cricket slowly but truly caught the attention of the passers by and attracted the crowd back to the venues.

We witnessed some extra-ordinary exhibition of talent in these 74 games and there were a few individuals who stood tall amidst the rest. Taking into account the consistency, match winning performances, flexibility and the adaptability of the players this season, we decided to pick 11 stand-out cricketers who would make it into this year's IPL XI. Please note that the number of overseas players is limited to four.

1. Christopher Henry Gayle - The Return of the Living Dead: The big man from Jamaica went unsold at the auctions, but thanks to Dirk Nannes who picked up an injury after a couple of games, the Royal Challengers decided to rope in the tall and destructive West Indian opener. He not only changed the fortunes for the team but also blew everyone away with his spectacular hitting ability. With 608 runs in 12 games at an average of 67.55 and with a tremendous strike rate of 183, Chris Gayle just walks in to any dream team. Before the arrival of Gayle, RCB had won just 1 out of their 4 games, and after Gayle set his foot in India they managed to win 9 out of the remaining 12.

2. Paul Valthaty - The Unknown Commodity: Scoring a century in this format of the game requires a bit of luck, some sort of hitting power and a lot of self belief. Valthaty marked his arrival with a blistering knock of 120 against the Super Kings. Scoring 463 runs in 14 games, he was one among the top 6 runs getters this IPL. Apart from being an aggressive top order batsman, Valthaty is also a handy medium pace bowler.

3. Virat Kohli - The rising star: Despite being a callow young man, Virat Kohli has earned himself a lot of appreciation both at the domestic level and also in the international level by showcasing his unique talent to read and assess the situation of the game and pace his innings accordingly. Consistency is one of the key factors that make him a perfect batsman that a captain would want to have at No. 3. He was also the second highest run getter this IPL.

4. Shaun Marsh - The elegant destroyer: One of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball, and with an ability to maul any opposition on his day, Shaun Marsh is our No. 4 batsman in the IPL XI. With a highest score of 95 and an average of 42, Shaun Marsh played several match winning innings this season keeping Punjab in the hunt for the play-offs right until the end.

5. Subramaniam Badrinath - The new Mr. Cricket: Technically sound and temperamentally labile, Super Subbu - the CSK middle order batsman - was more often than not, the crisis man for his team. When the team got good starts, he was pushed down the order and when the openers failed, Badri was sent up the order to do the repair work. The go-to man didn't disappoint them and came up with outstanding knocks almost every single time. He averaged 56.67 in the 13 innings that he played and was one of the key ingredients in some of the close wins that CSK salvaged this season.

6. MS Dhoni (captain/wk) - The Phenomenon: Mr. Invincible led the team from the front and came up with master strategies to which the opposition had no answers whatsoever. At the final of the World Cup, Dhoni was asked: "World T20, IPL, Champions League, World Cup 2011 - now what?" And Dhoni replied: "I wouldn't mind repeating it all over again." He stood calm under pressure, wasn't afraid to get his spinners to bowl against destructive batters and also played a handy role with the bat in the death overs.

7. Ravindra Jadeja - Revenge of the Fallen: After failing time and again with the bat for Team India, Ravindra Jadeja was dropped from the side. He hadn't played the previous season of the IPL as well due to his behavioral problems. If someone desperately needed a platform like this to show his talent again, it was this man. Having re-discovered his hitting ability, Jadeja turned out to be the finisher for the Kochi Tuskers in the lower middle order. When it comes to his bowling, he also had a decent economy rate of just over 7.

8. Rahul Sharma - The Pied Piper: Leg spinners are a treat to the eye especially when they are capable of extracting extra bounce on almost every wicket. The tall leggie who hails from Jalandhar was undoubtedly the stand out player for Pune Warriors this season. Taking 16 wickets in 14 games with an economy rate of less than 6, Rahul Sharma marked his arrival and stole the attention of the experts.

9. Sreenath Aravind - An ideal disciple: Another find of the 2011 IPL, the left arm pacer from Bangalore had this knack of breaking partnerships when the situation demanded it. With Zaheer Khan's able guidance, the youngster outperformed the veteran by taking 21 wickets in the 13 opportunities that came his way.

10. Doug Bollinger - The trusted weapon: The Aussies have always been known for their immaculate line and length and this bowler from New South Wales was no different. He was a master of death bowling and also provided initial break-throughs every now and then. His bouncers were hard to keep away and his slower ones were even harder to pick. The Aussie took 17 wickets in the 13 games that he played and had an economy rate of 7, which is pretty good for a fast bowler in this format of the game.

11. Lasith Malinga - The Toe Crusher: Lethal, accurate and consistent - these are the three words to describe Lasith's bowling. The man bowled yorkers at will and knocked the stumps over and over again to own the Purple Cap for almost the entire duration. With 28 wickets in 16 games, Malinga also had an economy rate of 5.95.

Iqbal Abdulla, Munaf Patel, Jacques Kallis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Manoj Tiwary are a few other names who had a terrific IPL but failed to make it into our IPL XI due to the team combination and other restrictions. Perhaps, this is the first time that Sachin Tendulkar has missing out from a dream team. The legend was one of the top scorers but due to his strike rate and Chris Gayle, he had to miss out on this one. May be, the Little Master would be right up there when we pick our XI yet again after the Champions' League this September.